Eurydice
by Yami Yue
Summary: Orpheus CCS style


For those of you familiar with the english names here's a handy guide

Syaoran is Li

Tomoyo is Madison

Toya is Tori

Eriol is Eli

Eurydice  
by Yami Yue

Sakura sighed as she flopped down upon her bed. She had finished all of her homework except for one assignment. She picked up the book lying next to her and opened it. "Whatcha readin'?" Kero asked as he landed on the bed next to her. "Greek Mythology for history class." Sakura answered. "I was about to read the story of Orpheus." "I think I remember that one." Kero said. Sakura raised her eyebrows at this. She had never known Kero to read a book. "Clow told it to me and Yue years ago." Kero explained, answering her unspoken question. "I don't remember much of it now." "Would you like me to read it to you?" Sakura asked. "Sure." Kero replied. Sakura smiled as she turned to the correct page. She sat back and began to read the story.

_Orpheus was the son of a Thracian king and the muse Calliope. He was a poet and a musician such as the world had never known. Apollo had given him a golden lyre, taught him how to play it. His mother taught him how to make verses for singing. When he played animals would follow him. Tress would pull themselves out of the ground and follow him on their twisted roots. People followed as well and as time passed Orpheus noticed that in the crowd a certain young woman by the name of Eurydice was always there to hear him play. One day Orpheus took her aside and talked with here. Her beautiful eyes and childlike demeanor won his heart and he decided he must have her. They were married and lived happily for a year and a day until rumors began to fly. People began to say that Orpheus was never seen about nor his lyre heard because he had married a sorceress who used her magic to keep him by her side always. A young king named Aristeus who was visiting heard these rumors and decided to see this enchantress for himself. From a grove of trees he watched and waited for two days and two nights. Eurydice came out of the house and he followed her to the river where she began taking off her tunic to bathe. The young king charged toward her making so much noise that it made Eurydice look up. When she saw Aristeus running toward her she ran. Frightened as a deer being chased by a predator her only thoughts were of escape. Eurydice was so intent on escaping she didn't notice where she was going and stepped on a nest of sleeping snakes. The snakes struck and bit her legs in so many places she was dead before her body hit the ground. Aristeus left her where she lay and departed. At dusk Orpheus came looking for Eurydice and found her dead. By then Hermes had already come to escort her soul to the underworld. Orpheus just looked at her but did not cry. He touched a string on his lyre and a single mournful note sounded. It was the sound of sobbing, but it only came once. To Orpheus she looked wrong like a wrong note in a song. Determined to set things right he headed to the underworld to get her back . . ._

Sakura yawned and stretched, she hadn't realized how tired she was. "Maybe you should stop for the night and get some sleep." Kero suggested. "It's late." Sakura nodded in agreement and marked her place in the book. She climbed under the covers, turned out the light and closed her eyes. "Good night Kero." She said. "Good night Sakura." Kero responded.

Sakura opened her eyes and found herself in a dark place. Before her was a river, dark and gloomy as the rest of her surroundings. On the river was a boat with a line of people waiting at the dock to board. Sakura watched as each person stepped up to the boat, handed a coin to the ferryman and then climbing aboard. "Where am I ?" she wondered as she wandered closer to the boat. Her confusion doubled when she saw who the ferryman was. "Yue?" Sakura asked in surprise. The angelic moon guardian looked up at her and shook his head. "I am Charon, ferryman of the river Styx." He replied. "You may not pass Eurydice, only the dead may cross the river in my boat." Sakura blinked in confusion as her hands touched cool metal. She looked down. There at her side was a golden lyre. "It looks like I'm playing Orpheus' part." She thought. "If this is another one of Eriol's spells I'm going to kill him." Sakura thought heatedly as she took the lyre in her hands. "Orpheus' music was supposed to make even fish stand on their tails to listen, it should work on him too." She mused. She put her fingers to the strings of the lyre and began to play. She then began to sing a river song, a boat song. As the ferryman listened a faraway look came into his eyes. The song was making him relive the memories of his childhood. While he was distracted Sakura climbed into the boat next to him. He was so lost in his memories the oar slipped from his hand. Sakura grabbed it before it fell into the water and rowed across the black river. When the reached the dock on the other side the people filed off and headed through the gates of Tartarus. Sakura followed.

"If I'm  in Orpheus' place then I wonder who's in Eurydice's shoes." She thought as she looked around for a familiar face. Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud snarling. She looked up to see a giant three headed dog blocking her path, only there was something familiar about it. She realized however that it wasn't exactly a dog blocking her path. It was . . . "Kero?" Sakura gasped. "I don't know how you got past Charon but you're not getting past me." The center head growled. "Cerberus, the guardian of the gates of Tartarus will not be taken so easily." The left head added. Sakura gaped at the massive beast before her. It still looked like Kero only his feline features had become more canine. "This is too weird." Sakura thought as she took the lyre in her hands and began to play once more. This time it was a dog song, a hound song, a hunting song. Cerberus yawned, laid down and closed his eyes. Within moments he was asleep dreaming of when he had been an ordinary dog, before Hades had transformed him to be his watchdog. Sakura stepped around the massive beast and went through the gates. She walked on through the field of Asphodel, playing the lyre until she reached the throne of Hades himself.

 Upon the throne sat Eriol and beside him sat Tomoyo. "Why am I not surprised to see Eli here?" Sakura thought to herself as he began to speak. "I know why you have come Eurydice." He said. "You wish to bring back your husband Orpheus to the world of the living." Sakura nodded in agreement. "No one has come to Tartarus without being sent for and I will make sure that no one does again." He said, his tone threatening. "I'd better do something fast. He doesn't sound too happy to see me for once." Sakura thought. Sakura began playing the lyre and sang a song of Hades' love for Persephone. As she played Tomoyo began to cry. Eli looked over at her. Tomoyo leaned forward and whispered something in his ear. Eriol then turned to Sakura who had finished her song. "Your song has affected my queen." He said. "For Persephone's sake I will let you ask what you wish." "Orpheus." Sakura said. "I want to bring him back with me." Eriol shook his head. "That can't be done." He insisted. "Anything else I could give you but that cannot be done." "I haven't come all this way for nothing." Sakura thought as she began to play the lyre once again.

The furies heard the music and flew in on the hooked wings. They poised themselves in the air above Hades' throne and began to speak, their voices sounding like the coo of doves. "Just this once Hades." They cried. "Let her have him. Let him go." Eriol stood and looked down at Sakura. "I leave the laurel leaves and loud celebrations to my nephew Apollo, but I even I can be touched by eloquence. Especially when it brings unlikely advocates." He said. "You may have Orpheus and he will follow you back to the land of the living, but if you look back even once he will return here for good." Sakura bowed once to Eriol then Tomoyo, then turned and walked away. Sakura listened for footsteps but heard none, still she walked on through the field of Asphodel towards the gates of Tartarus. The gate opened for her and she stepped through. Cerberus was still asleep. Still she heard no footsteps. "He must be there Eriol said he would follow." Sakura thought as she stepped around the great beast. "Still, he has been known to play tricks." "Trick or not I can't look back." Onward she went. The boat was soon ahead of her. Yue let her aboard without protest and silently rowed to the other side of the river Styx. 

Sakura stared strait ahead determined not to let her curiosity get the best of her. "I wonder who "Orpheus" could be." She thought. "I've seen Kero, Yue, Tomoyo and Eriol already so I don't think he's one of them." "I haven't seen Yukito, Toya, Syaoran or Dad maybe one of them is Orpheus." She mused. "…but which one." The boat reached the dock and Sakura disembarked. She continued up the path toward the passage between the underworld and the world of the living. She continued on toward the bright light of the sun. "Almost there." She said to herself. "Just a little bit further." The light grew so bright it blinded her, but dare she turn her head even to shield her face? 

  
Sakura awoke to find herself in her own room. She glanced over at the book she'd been reading the night before. "It was just a dream." She murmured. "You're up early." Kero commented as he fluttered out of his drawer. "I had this weird dream." She told him. Kero sat down on the bed focusing his attention on her. "I went down to the underworld to bring back Orpheus to the land of the living." She told him. "It was as if Orpheus and Eurydice switched roles." I played the lyre and sang just like he did in the story." " Did you find Orpheus?" Kero asked. Sakura sighed. "I'm not sure. I woke up before I could see if he was really behind me." "How did the story end?" Kero asked. "You never got to that part last night." He reminded her. Sakura opened the book and began reading the last lines of the story.

_Swiftly he turned and looked back. Hades hadn't tricked him. Eurydice was there. He reached out his hand to take hers and bring her into the light, but the hand turned to smoke, then the arm. The body became mist and the face melted. The last to go was her smile of welcome. It too vanished. The bright vapor blew away in the fresh upper current of air that blew through the crevasse from the upper world._

Sakura closed the book and climbed out of bed. " What a sad ending." She commented as she placed the book back in her backpack. "If he had waited just a moment longer she would have lived." "There's more to the story Sakura." Kero said. "…at least the way Clow told it." "Orpheus was later murdered by a mob of Maenads but in death was reunited with Eurydice and they were inseparable." Sakura smiled. "I like that ending much better." She said as she gathered some clothes so that she could get ready for the day. Kero smiled at his mistress, then laid down and closed his eyes to get a few more minutes sleep. Neither of them noticed the glint of gold metal as the sun's rays peaked in through the window. A golden lyre rested beside the bed waiting to be played once more.

The End

Character Review:

Opheus  was Sakura

Charon, ferryman of the river Styx was Yue

Cerberus, guardian  of the Underworld  was Kero

Hades, king of the Underworld  was Eriol

Persephonie queen of the underworld was Tomoyo 

Author's Note:

The version of Orpheus used in this fic comes from the book : Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths by Bernard Evslin. There is actually another version of Orpheus that goes beyond where he returned to the upper world and lost Eurydice. In which he was murdered violently by a band of Maenads (Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton) and a third that goes on to say that he was reunited with his beloved wife where they were inseparable in death, with one always following the other. 

I hope you enjoyed my story. Thank you for reading. 

  
  
  



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